Fireworks 3 and 4

Chapter Seventy-One

    Drake's team didn't have to dig deep to find dirt on Farrah. Within two days, Drake returned to Mia's condo with his team's findings in hand. It seemed that Farrah had a record ranging from aggravated assault to prostitution. Research into her social media accounts pulled up even more dirt. A repeat commenter threatened to expose Farrah if she didn't leave her man alone. On an ultrasound post, the same commenter asked Farrah why she was tagging a man named Anthony when Anthony denied being the father of the child.

    Drake and Mia flipped through the research findings. They wore matching expressions of bewilderment. 

    "I don't even know where to start with all of this," Mia muttered, setting down the paperwork. "There's so much."

    "Are you surprised?" he asked, looking at her over his copy of the printout. "She's a troublemaker. I would have bet money on us finding a ton of shit from her past that we could use."

    She arched a brow at him.

    "If you wanted to use it," he added. "That's going to be completely your call. I have the tools at my disposal. The least I could do was offer them to you. What you choose to do with this information is up to you, though."

    She sighed and tucked her feet beneath her while settling onto the couch. "Like...I see all of the drama that's there," she said. "I don't even begin to know how to use any of it, though."

    "There are definitely ways," he said. "We'd have a brainstorming session with a few members of my team to agree upon the best methods to use. I'm not a fan of involving children - I'd probably leave that alone, and it's pure speculation anyway on the part of the person commenting. The prostitution charges, though...that's probably where I'd start, if it were up to me."

    Her mouth twisted into a frown. "I don't know if I can do this."

    "Again, up to you," he said, still flipping through pages. "But the fact that they came up with so much dirt within a short period of time...I'm amazed. My expectations were for maybe a couple things we could use, but...the thickness of her arrest records alone reads like a dictionary. Even if you don't want to use this information to take her down, we can still use it to contest the charges she's trying to bring against you. Ruin her credibility, so to speak. One thing we will definitely do is look into how she was able to land a dancing spot for your tour when she has such a troublesome history. Background checks are supposed to be run for dancers. Someone majorly dropped the ball."

    "Sounds like a good idea."

    "Since she somehow skated by and landed a job, we should take another look at the rest of the dancers still employed. That's something we need to do before the start of the tour, in case there's anyone else we need to replace."

    Just thinking about the tour was enough to exhaust her. She tilted her head back and closed her eyes.

    "Did you want me to leave so you can get some rest?" he asked.

    "No...I'm not really going to sleep or anything. Just briefly resting my eyes."

    "You always say that before falling asleep."

    She laughed. "So do you," she countered.

    "Yeah, but we're not talking about me right now," he said. A moment later, she heard a rustling sound indicating that he was moving. "We're talking about you." His voice sounded a lot closer now. The couch sank beneath his weight as he sat beside her.

    Her eyes remained closed, but she smiled. "We may be talking about me, but you can't call me out for something that you do yourself. That would make you a hypocrite."